CD reviews

Johnny Cash

"American V: A Hundred Highways"

On sale at All That Jazz for $15.98

This CD showcases a braver, more honest Johnny Cash. His last recordings reflect his strong, tired voice in slow, bedtime ballads. You can hear the miles he's traveled in his voice. And you can hear the things that a biography could never tell.

This is one of those albums in which no song stands out because each one has a soul. "Like the 309" was the last song Johnny wrote, and it sounds like it was meant to be.

Johnny admits his faults on this album and continues to tell his amazing stories about the common man.

Some songs on this CD bring you back to the Old West with a familiar voice and a blazing campfire - the kind you wouldn't see in a movie.

He sings love songs about June Carter and other ladies from his past. In "Love's Been Good to Me," he makes love sound as sweet as a Bailey's and coffee at the end of a long, cold day on the ski mountain.

Cash represents the quintessential outlaw and a true contemporary American hero.

It's the perfect last tribute to a great American tale.

Rating: This is a collector's item.

Sophie Milman

"Sophie Milman"

On sale at All That Jazz for $14.98

Sophie sings only with her Norman microphone. In fact, she told me she doesn't leave home without it. I guess it makes her sing like a cat staring into a fishbowl.

From the first drum roll and cymbal rattle, this CD changed my affinity for jazz music. On second thought, it also could have been seeing her live at Strings in the Mountains.

It was her voice that sold me.

This CD is the romantic soundtrack you would want for your day-to-day life. You can't not feel happy when you hear "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "My Baby For Me."

After listening to this album, you wouldn't believe that Sophie simply enjoys reading, watching "The Family Guy" and hanging out with her boyfriend. Her music sounds as if she's been whisked off to Paris every weekend with a new love affair.

Lucky for her, she speaks five languages. She sings in French, Russian and English on this album.

Rating: Shut off the lights and dance with someone.

G. Love

"Lemonade"

On sale at All That Jazz for $14.98

G. Love is back with a new sauce that has the same Philly flavor. Love's still got all the sweet rhymes with that cute lisp women swoon over.

This CD sounds more pop that his other albums, but it has more potential favorite songs.

"Holla!" is a song that gives you that "Baby's Got Sauce" feeling. Skip past "Free" and pretend like it never happened. Otherwise, this CD is a predictable G. Love album.

"Breakin' Up" makes you want to be next in line to date him, but after listening to "Still Hangin' Around" and the secret song after it, I'm convinced that G. Love is a stalker.